Who's on Top? 8/15-8/21

Advertising expenditure for new creatives on national television reached $138 million from August 15th- 21st. This is the second week in a row that ad spend dropped for this segment, as the two previous weeks saw higher spend than average due to the Olympics. While the Games were still occurring during the measured week, not as many new creatives were debuting, thus spend began to taper off. This week Comcast topped the list for spend, placing all of its new creative ad dollars in Olympic programming.

Creative Spotlight

Along with being the top advertiser for the week, Comcast also had the single creative with the most money behind it. Out of its five new creatives that aired this week, 68 percent of spend ($4.1 million) went to a single creative highlighting its media assets. As the owner of NBCUniversal, broadcast partner for the Olympics, as well as Universal and Xfinity, Comcast produced an ad that showcased all three of its entities, while intertwining the Olympic Games into its message. The uplifting ad begins with clips of Olympic medalists Usain Bolt, Simone Biles, Michael Phelps and others, followed by clips from different movies and TV shows. The spot concludes with the announcement “Welcome to the wonders that happen every day. Welcome to it all. Comcast.”

The heart-warming spot was a chance for Comcast to connect with viewers by leaving them feeling excited and uplifted. It aired nationally 18 times throughout the week, all during Olympic telecasts distributed between NBC (15 occurrences) and NBC Sports (3 occurrences).

Though this creative debuted during the second week of the Olympics, Comcast ran promotions throughout the entire duration of the Games. For Comcast and other advertisers with a continuous presence during the 17 day event, there can be challenges deciding how many different commercial executions to use. Some brands opt to use a small number of different creatives. Others advertisers, like Comcast, try to keep things fresh throughout the Games. Comcast aired a total of eight different creatives during the entirety of the Olympics. While some had similar messaging, this particular spot was first seen on August 18th, almost two weeks after the Olympics began.

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